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Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring
·
Professor Hoffmann
632
“...
Most
intricate
is
the
problem
proposed
by
Colonel
Stodare,
when,
in
addition
to
his
admirable
feats
of
ventriloquism
and
legerdemain,
he
presents
to
his
patrons
a
novel
illusion
called
the
‘Sphinx.’
Placing
upon
an
uncovered
table
a
chest
similar
in
size
to
the
cases
commonly
occupied
by
stuffed
dogs
or
foxes,
he
removes
the
side
facing
the
spectators,
and
reveals
a
head
attired
after
the
fashion
of
an
Egyptian
Sphinx.
To
avoid
the
suspicion
of
ventriloquism,
he
retires
to
a
distance
from
the
figure
supposed
to
be
too
great
for
the
practice
of
that
art,
taking
his
position
on
the
borderline
of
the
stalls
and
the
area,
while
the
chest
is
on
the
stage.
Thus
stationed,
he
calls
upon
the
Sphinx
to
open
its
eyes,
which
it
does--to
smile,
which
it
does
also,
though
the
habitual
expression
of
its
countenance
is
most
melancholy,
and
to
make
a
speech,
which
it
does
also,
this
being
the
miraculous
part
of
the
exhibition.
Not
only
with
perspicuity,
but
with
something
like
eloquence,
does
it
utter
some
twenty
lines
of
verse;
and
while
its
countenance
is
animated
and
expressive,
the
movement
of
the
lips,
in
which
there
is
nothing
mechanical,
exactly
corresponds
to
the
sounds
articulated.
“This
is
certainly
one
of
the
most
extraordinary
illusions
ever
presented
to
the
public.
That
the
speech
is
spoken
by
a
human
voice
there
is
no
doubt;
but
how
is
a
head
to
be
contrived
which,
being
detached
from
anything
like
a
body,
confined
in
a
case,
which
it
completely
fills,
and
placed
on
a
bare-legged
table,
will
accompany
a
speech,
that
apparently
proceeds
from
its
lips,
with
a
strictly
appropriate
movement
of
the
mouth,
and
a
play
of
the
countenance
that
is
the
reverse
of
mechanical?
Eels,
as
we
all
know,
can
wriggle
about
after
they
have
been
chopped
into
half-a-dozen
pieces;
but
a
head
that,
like
that
of
the
Physician
Douban,
in
the
Arabian
tales,
pursues
its
eloquence
after
it
has
been
severed
from
its
body,
scarcely
comes
within
the
reach
of
possibilities;
unless,
indeed,
the
old-fashioned
assertion
that
‘King
Charles
walked
and
talked
half-an-hour
after
his
head
was
cut
off,’
is
to
be
received,
not
as
an
illustration
of
defective
punctuation,
but
as
a
positive
historical
statement.
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